Meditation Practices
The following are the Buddhist meditation practices that we cultivate at IMSB.

Mindfulness & Full Attention

Mindfulness (sati in the Pali language) describes the capacity to be fully aware (sampajanna) and present to our lived experience. Mindfulness is supported by a nonjudgmental attitude that accepts and receives the present moment as it actually is. Naturally imbued with equanimity and free from reactivity, mindful attention is not distorted by desires and aversions, likes and dislikes, hopes or fears.

We train in this ability to be fully awake to mental and sensory experiences by bringing attention to breathing, bodily sensations, thoughts, intentions, emotions, pain, pleasure, reactions, and perceptions. Mindfulness is cultivated during formal meditation practice and during daily life activities. As mindfulness develops, we bring attention to speaking, listening, and our daily choices. Mindfulness imbues life with the vibrant clarity that remembers we are alive. Basic meditation instruction is included in Shaila's talk on Vipassana Practice.

Generosity

The practice of generosity (dana in Pali) is a direct training in letting go and non-attachment. It reflects compassion, loving kindness and the understanding of interconnection. When we practice generosity and take joy in giving, we are strengthening the capacity to delight in wholesome actions; we practice right action.

IMSB relies upon the generosity of participants to cover all costs associated with our programs. Bowls are available at events to collect voluntary contributions from participants.

See also Dana & Generosity

Four Postures: Sitting, Walking, Reclining, and Standing Meditation

The Buddha encouraged practicing clear awareness while sitting, walking, reclining and standing. We practice meditation and mindful awareness in all four postures, not just sitting. Awareness is needed in all activities.

Concentration & Jhana

Concentration (samadhi in Pali) describes a deeply stable unification of attention in a mind that has been cleared of hindrances and agitation. We develop this cohesive quality of attention through focusing on the breath and working with an array of techniques designed to quiet busy minds, quell distracting thoughts, and settle disturbing emotions. When consciousness is purified of obstruction, the deep states of meditative absorption, called jhanas, become accessible. These states of radiant calm are characterized by profound unity and ecstatic energies of rapture, happiness, equanimity, and bliss.

Periodically IMSB offers training to concentrate the mind, highlighting jhanic factors that support profound degrees of focused concentration. The training for cultivating concentration includes courses and retreats that explore practical methods for deepening concentration, cultivating skills for freeing the mind from preoccupation, and learning to abide with undistracted awareness. The twin practices -- concentration and insight -- reinforce each other and support the deeply stable investigation of the nature of mind.

Basic instructions for cultivating concentration are included in Shaila's Book.

Inquiry & Investigation

Meditation requires a balance of mindful attention, steady calm, and intelligent, dynamic investigation. We do not merely relax the mind, we look into the mind. The Buddha's teachings offer a means to penetrate the deepest truths of reality. Whatever we experience in meditation, we see it clearly.

In order to free the mind from ignorance and attachment, we directly experience the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and insubstantial characteristics of mind and body. When the mind is calm and undistracted, we have excellent conditions for the profound investigation of perception.

We inquire into whatever we experience: sensory and mental patterns, mind and body interactions, the formations of self-constructs, processes of attachment, and the presence or absence of suffering in order to know for ourselves the truth of things.

Contemplation of the Teachings

The Discourses of the Buddha offer a rich source of inspiration. When we read the discourses (suttas in Pali) we do so with a contemplative attitude. Our aim is not to intellectually comprehend or consume the texts, but to allow the teachings to permeate our hearts and reflect on the contemporary implications of this ancient wisdom.

The Buddha Dharma has been preserved for over two and a half thousand years through a vibrant oral and written tradition. As a community, we read English translations of the Pali Canon for the purpose of contemplative reflection, and we value these powerful teachings as the spark for awakening.

Contemporary dharma talks integrate understandings gleaned from Buddhist doctrine as interpreted through the experience of individual teachers. We practice to listen with full attention. The practice of receptive listening requires no adherence to religious dogma. We are open to experience what might be true and useful; we suspend the judgmental tendencies of mind that criticize styles and compare presentations; we listen to the Dhamma in order to realize a truth beyond what words can describe.

Broadening the Field of Mindfulness

The Buddhist tradition includes a range of practices that can augment, support, or replace mindfulness with breathing as the primary approach to mindfulness. Periodically IMSB teachers offer instruction that expands the practice of mindfulness beyond the traditional breath techniques usually taught in beginning meditation courses. Specific techniques emphasize body awareness, touch points, hearing and seeing, and dynamic engagement with meditative energies. Courses include guided meditation, instruction, lecture and discussion, and explore alternative practices and lesser-known vipassana techniques. Students can individually consult with the teacher to develop methods and techniques suitable to their needs.

Brahma Viharas: Loving Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity

There are four heart qualities cultivated in the Theravadan Buddhist traditions, which together are called the Four Brahma Viharas. They include loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Each quality can be developed as an antidote for its opposing tendency. For instance, loving kindness is the antidote for ill will; compassion is the antidote for cruelty; sympathetic joy is the antidote for jealously and boredom; and equanimity is the antidote for attachment to personal preferences.

Each quality is systematically developed and supported by the recitation of specific phrases. Each quality matures as the focus of meditation until it shines in it's luminous perfection. A practitioner who has developed the Brahma Viharas abides with deep confidence -- a confidence that is based on deeply trusting the purity of one's intentions.

The Brahma Vihara quality of loving kindness (metta in Pali) is a profound quality of friendliness toward all of life. This ancient systematic practice cultivates a heartfelt wish that all beings be happy. We generate friendliness beginning with ourselves and gradually expand the field of loving kindness to embrace those we love, and those who are difficult to love, until this caring radiates to all beings without exception. Loving kindness is a practice of happiness that heals the heart, meets the pains of life with sensitivity, and strengthens the inner serenity essential for concentration.

Instructions for practicing Metta are included in Shaila's talk on Loving Kindness